Easier licensing for Public Wi-Fi likely in India, telcos however oppose it

While the govt is looking to showcase Digital India by offering sops to push rollout of public Wifi before elections 2019, Indian telcos are united in crying foulGulveen Aulakh | ET Bureau | July 07, 2018, 09:01 IST

The government wants to give public WiFi a big push ahead of next year’s general election, sparking the interest of global giants Google and Facebook — which offer WiFi services in India — and telecom companies alike.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is mulling light-touch licensing for those that register to offer such services, said people with knowledge of the matter. It may even allow unlicensed entities that may not have to share revenue with the government but would need to follow rules on security, monitoring and lawful interception among others. Licensed telcos and internet providers need to share revenue.

Telcos are united, for once, in opposition to the plan on the grounds that the move would disrupt a level-playing field and violate current law. The older telcos are typically ranged against new entrant Reliance Jio Infocomm. The tussle comes as the government, at its highest levels, is keen on making public WiFi an election plank as an extension of Digital India and a symbol of its success, say industry insiders.

To that end, DoT is considering ways to make the programme attractive for all stakeholders in a bid to rapidly roll out hotspots--500,000 across the country by the end of 2018, with at least one in every village in India.

“One section of thought is that the PDOAs (public data office aggregators) will have to follow all terms and conditions that licensees follow, except the licence fee and revenue share part, under light-touch licensing,” a senior department official said. “So, they will have to invest in ensuring that they meet the norms, especially those related to security, monitoring and interception. This will ensure that public WiFi hotspots proliferate and create employment for people.”

The revenue share or commercial agreement between the PDOs (public data offices) and PDOAs is also likely to be kept outside the purview of DoT. PDOAs will enrol a number of small entities to function as public data offices (PDOs) which act as hotspots–akin to the public call offices (PCOs) of old--providing last-mile WiFi to customers. Typically, Google or Facebook, which have their own WiFi platforms and are looking at expanding their services in India, would be keen to act as PDOAs, executives said.

Google and Facebook offer their own WiFi services in parts of the country through Station and Express WiFi, respectively. While Google did not comment, sources said the US company is “waiting and watching” for the government to lay down a clear architecture. It already offers WiFi services at 400 railway stations through its partnership with RailTel besides 150 Google Stations in Pune and has said it wants to expand its services across the country.

Facebook also did not respond to ET’s emailed queries. It has partnered with Bharti Airtel to deploy 20,000 WiFi hotspots across the country to offer affordable internet services through its Express WiFi platform. It is also working with internet service providers (ISPs) and over 500 local entrepreneur-retailers in Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Meghalaya to commercially offer the service through 700 hotspots, and continues to explore more avenues for expansion.

A project to expand WiFi use by offering cheap internet connectivity to tier-II and III towns would be right up the alley of global giants that have implemented these programmes worldwide, said industry insiders. But telcos are opposed to any move to allow unlicensed players to become PDOAs, or the aggregator – which will typically give connectivity to a few thousand WiFi hotspots or PDOs and generate revenue – since carriers will be asked to share that revenue with the government as per existing rules. This will put them at a disadvantage against unlicensed PDOAs that won’t have to do so if the plan goes ahead.

“Allowing the same activity to be performed by an unlicensed entity would tilt the level playing field, as the same would give unfair advantage to unlicensed entities and would thus lead to loss of revenue to licensed operators who are under the licensing framework and are going through a phase of severe financial stress,” lobby group Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said in a recent communication to DoT.

The association added that all its members supported this view. Some of its members said such a move by DoT was sure to be challenged in court. “Establishing public WiFi networks without licence will be illegal being in violation of the Indian Telegraph Act 1885,” COAI said, adding that any decision that DoT takes on the issue should be within the legal framework and consistent with the regulatory regime.